


Age to Age

by JeffTheRock



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Childhood, Coming of Age, Drug Use, Fear, Gen, Innocence, Loss of Innocence, Maturity, Mutant Trafficking, Peril, Poachers, Preteen Turtles, pretty dark I guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:26:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25602049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeffTheRock/pseuds/JeffTheRock
Summary: The turtles just turned thirteen. They become impatient with having to go up the surface, but what would exactly be in store for them?
Kudos: 15





	1. Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always loved the Ninja Turtles and recently, my obsession for them has resurfaced and since then my head ran with ideas of a story and that is how this fic came to be. I would like to warn that the chapters to come may be disturbing, so read with discretion. Enjoy reading! And yes, I do not own TMNT. It is owned by Viacom and Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.

Splinter was the first member to wake up every morning, although he wasn't the one to normally make breakfast since Michelangelo could handle it himself. He would occasionally take the job whenever his youngest son goes sick or during special occasions. It would usually take about thirty minutes for him to get breakfast ready, but today, he would take it about ten minutes less. He sat at his place painstakingly tending a large cake of mashed algae and worms he had made late at the night before their thirteenth mutation day, or more appropriately their thirteenth birthday. Splinter knew that making a special cake would equate to a very special occasion, which was finally having become a _teenager_.

Splinter sighed for a splendid job on the cake, which basically had three consecutive layers. They were a bit lumpy on the sides, but overall, the cake was pretty good for a learning baker. He sat looking intently on the cake, the gooey looking slop and pungent smell not giving him a fuss. He wondered then how Miwa would celebrate a birthday like that. He would buy her an actual cake, made with actual decent ingredients. He imagined the three neat consecutive layers, covered in pink frosting and adorned with white icings on the sides, sprinkled with gold edible glitter sprinkles and to be topped off with red spiral candles. It would be something Miwa would love very much.

Cake aside, what was more important for him was the fact that his sons have grown more fervent in their development. With their constant training as ninjas, he would finally let them out into the surface, but the moment he would see their young faces, he would forego the notion. They had the skill, but they weren't really ready to face the world.

Being thirteen does not necessarily make one a teenager right away. It is to continue to be a child until the right moment comes for change to occur.

Splinter proceeded to make his usual meditation on his seat. He crossed his feet and laid his arms to relax on his legs. As soon as his palms were up, he took a deep breath to let peace flow through while balancing himself on the small seat. For a moment he found peace by letting go of himself, and surely he would grasp the assurance that everything will be alright.

"Shhhh… Master's Splinter's out cold. Let's surprise him," whispered the orange masked turtle peeping through the two-inch open gap of the kitchen door. Behind him were Donatello and Raphael and their heads above him looking in the same direction.

"You're crazy! He's gonna punish us like heck!" Donatello whispered back, knocking Mikey's head.

"Don't be stupid. We're thirteen; we're grown-ups now." Raphael added.

"Please don't say that, because we aren't quite basically." Donatello sighed.

"It's our birthday, brah! He won't hurt us. We're _very_ special today!"

"Unless he's gonna pummel us tomorrow." Raphael retorted.

Donnie decided to back out to talk to Leonardo, who must be in his room. He tapped the door lightly. Upon the sound, Leonardo called out, "Come in." and as Donatello came in, he could find the eldest boy squatting on the floor and sharpening one of his katana with a grey stone tablet.

"You haven't been out yet I suppose."

"Yeah, I need to do things, but I'll be out." Leonardo replied dryly.

"Oh yeah, Happy Mutation Day!" Donnie replied with a smile.

Leo smiled back and laughed, "Happy Mutation Day too. Or should I say, _birthday_..."

Donatello put a finger on his chin to think, "Makes sense! In the first place, we never knew when our actual birthday was,"

"That's why we all celebrate Mutation Day as our birthday too. Well, that's what Master Splinter wants to call it."

"It's been a mystery whether or not we've been born most likely _days_ before our mutation."

Leonardo gave a nod, "That wouldn't matter. We've assumed our mutation as our birthday anyway. It's pretty strange I don't feel that old yet. I always believed when we become thirteen, we become teens now—grown-ups."

"Not quite, I suppose." Donatello replied heading to another science ramble, "We should know the effects in a few years, maybe fourteen at most. But we are currently in puberty! I'm beginning to get broader shoulders and I feel weirdly good when I, let's say, am _captivated_ with someone pretty, it tingles my bones and blood!"

"D, I relate too! Just to tell you, there's some pretty girl from Space Heroes I actually really like, but I'm gonna let you find out yourself, but still, I still feel like a kid, but I also feel I'm no longer one," Leo replied, looking at his finished sword.

"Being a kid was great, I suppose. We all had to grow up."

"Let's enjoy while we're still at it,"

Meanwhile, Mikey crept in the kitchen, after slowly pushing the door open it couldn't creak, his knees bent so that his whole body was below Splinter's position. Raph in exasperation crept in to grab Mikey out of there. He didn't want to get caught up and punished too, not even on his birthday.

"Mikey, get out of there, or I'm gonna beat you." Raphael demanded.

"No one's gonna get beaten. Not on our Mutation Day," Michelangelo coolly replied.

"You're gonna fail to surprise him anyway."

"Shut up, man. We know our training." he bragged, much to Raph's louder sigh.

Michelangelo slowly raised himself up and raised his hands, clawing his fingers as he was ready to shake Splinter from his chair. Raphael backed up to the door's entrance, hoping he wouldn't get beaten up by his sensei.

"Michelangelo," At the sound of Splinter Mikey's hands inches close to Splinter's tunic froze along with his body, "Do you want a pummel on your thirteenth mutation day? An intense _randori_ perhaps?" The turtle stepped back stiffly back to the door but stopped once his eyes caught on the cake Splinter had made.

"Master Splinter, there's a cake on the table," said Michelangelo pointing a finger at the cake.

Splinter quickly sat on his chair and bent his back forward startling the boy backwards. Nothing could be scarier than putting a hand on his chin, "Call your brothers. We'll celebrate."

* * *

"Happy Mutation Day!" The four turtle boys cried out in their borderline deepening voices.

Splinter gave a slight chuckle, "You have finally reached the mark of being a… _teen._ But looking at you four, you are still the same bright twelve-year-olds I know, but I am sure that when you grow older, you will be stronger than what you think you will be. I see hope in you four."

"We will, sensei, except for Mikey," said Raphael while pointing at Michelangelo.

"Hey! I'm capable of myself! Who's the guy who has been making breakfast for you every morning, huh?"

"You still run around, scream like a little kid, and make a mess everywhere! It's annoying."

"I'm the same age as you!"

"But your mind is that of a five-year-old!"

Both began to growl at each other, and in disappointment, Splinter struck his staff at hand to the concrete floor instantly bringing the two to face forward in keen attention.

Leonardo took a deep breath to say something big, "Master Splinter, we've been meaning to ask you, as we are now pretty old enough to discern for ourselves, we would like to request that we can have a chance to set foot on the surface, but with your supervision and that we stay no longer than ten...six minutes!"

Splinter rubbed his long strand of beard, closed his eyes, and hummed in reflection. The turtles inched their heads closer for the decision,

"No."

The turtles frowned in shock, "Well, master, you get to go with us, so as to ensure our safety." Leonardo spoke, "You knew what it was like on the surface as a mutant, and as being on the surface in general."

"I will not allow it," Splinter affirmed, "You are too young to be on the surface, even when you turned thirteen does not mean you are capable of handling what is up there. I cannot risk you all in danger, even when I'm with you. We would all be at risk if we all leave to the surface, even at night. No one leaves."

 _Our birthday is now spoiled by… no surface_ , Raphael thought.

Splinter sighed, "I understand that you wanted to venture out so badly, and I cannot stop you, because it is best for you. You cannot stay here forever, but you are children. It takes more for you to finally go up the surface. You need to be mature, and ready to face any adversary."

"Hai, sensei." Leo sighed, not wanting to anger him more.

Splinter slowly glanced at the cake he made untouched, "Now eat some of that cake, will you? I made it."

"Yeah, guys! This cake is the best!" Michelangelo muffled with a handful of cake stuffed unto his mouth. The cake's left side ended up destroyed in a crater making the cake threaten to fall.

Splinter let off a single chuckle, "Happy Mutation Day, my sons."

* * *

The rest of their birthday was a festive one. The brothers finally got a chance to lay off serious training for the day, with a little sparring tournament in the dojo, followed by an action movie marathon, and a dance party to some _Black Eyed Peas_. The radio would roar all over nonstop, but it didn't get in the way of Splinter's meditation in his room, where he stayed most of the time, except for a lunch of ramen cups in the living room.

Late in the afternoon, the turtles ate, shot corn chips to their open mouths in a contest, drank cola, and made pen marks on anyone dozing off, and end the daylong celebration with another movie marathon by nightfall until 9 pm. When they finished, they gathered at Mikey's room for a special meeting. Instead of huddling together under his sheets just like they would do when they were much younger, they sat on any space they could sit on. Raphael sat by the corner near the door, Michelangelo lay down on his bed, while Leonardo and Donatello stayed seated on the floor facing the bed.

"We have to prove to Splinter that we can go up to the surface." Raphael began, "Besides, Donnie was able to make some neat inventions we can use in case anything goes wrong. We can back out and say this was a bad idea. It's that simple."

"Raph, I haven't tested most of them yet. I can't be 100% sure they'll work. That's what science is for your information." Donnie replied.

"I'm not sure anymore, although Splinter has a point." Leonardo crossed his arms and looked down to the floor to think.

"Dude, you seriously have seen kids our age fight off dangerous monsters, evil people, and beat the crap of adult losers!" Michelangelo retorted bringing himself seated.

Donatello sighed, annoyed at Mikey's argument, "That's unrealistic, Mikey. There's no way we kids can fight the dangers above ground. I've heard some crime syndicates are lurking around in the sewers and these guys are not what you see on TV, and so there's no way we can."

"We can avoid them. Simple." Raphael replied harshly.

"Am I a dummy, Raphael? Of course we can avoid them. Beside, we won't go to the surface to fight but to just have a feel of it!"

"But Donnie, fights happen, and it can land on us. That make sense right?" Michelangelo chimed in.

Donnie's face crumpled as he cringed to that argument.

"We've trained all our lives, and you think we can't handle them?"

"I'm not saying we can't handle them," the purple masked turtle proceeded to sigh, "We just need to be rational. How can adults face four kids like us? How can the whole world face four mutants?"

Raphael scoffed, irked to hear anything intellectually based Donatello would have to say, " _Being rational_ is all you know. Can't you think about something else than that?"

The three looked at Leonardo to see if he had a say, instead his eyes were shut and took slow deep breaths. Raphael rolled his eyes, stood up, and walked to him, "What are you doing? Do you have anything to say?"

Leonardo's eyes opened and looked up to Raphael calmly, "We will go up the surface anyway. We will prove ourselves to Splinter that we can make it. I bet that could change his mind." Raphael went puzzled. What was Leo's point?

"I thought you said there was no way to go up the surface. Why now?" that was what Raphael could say.

"We may not be much of a bunch up there, but as ninjas, we can do anything. We must be willing to try anything; it's even common sense by the way. We can show Splinter that we are capable as ninjas and we can prove to him that we can stand up on our own."

"How are we gonna do it?" Donatello asked.

Leonardo placed a hand on his purple masked brother's shoulder, "We'll go with Raph's suggestion; bring your inventions with you, Donnie, especially the smoke bombs you've been working on. The sewer drain isn't so far from here; it's about a ten-minute run. Once we reach above, we'll pick something we can show Splinter, something that can't be found here. I suggest a leaf or a flower from a nearby tree not like the one here, or better yet, swipe some clean snacks, maybe from a stall somewhere, your call.

"We'll show what we got to Splinter calmly and not super excited, and we'll honestly tell him that we didn't run into trouble, that is if we don't. I think that'll be the best way for Splinter to know we're capable. We stick together and we don't go near anything dangerous, and I'll stress this, do _not_ ever _dare_ go into a fight. We use our weapons when necessary. Any questions?"

"Do we leave like now?" Michelangelo asked, jumping in front of him.

"No. We wait for at least three days. That'll be enough for Splinter to forget our discussion earlier. Until then, we train hard."

"This is gonna get crazy, Leo. No offense." Donatello said crossing his arms, his breathing seemingly getting heavier by the second.

"Donnie, things go crazy, we'll take anything. We're ninjas, we fade into the night." Leonardo affirmed.

Raphael soon stepped forward, "After all, this is what we wanted, right? Not to mention, _needed_ too." _Needed_ would be the important word for their situation. They need to get out there and face the real world. Would ninjas or basically anyone in general just stay holed or be venturing over in a big world instead?

"As they say, _the world is your oyster!_ Ninjas believe it too! Don't forget that, my man." Said Michelangelo, wrapping an arm over his brother's shoulder and upon releasing it, gave a light punch on the arm.

Donnie looked down to sigh. Sure, he took many risks, but this risk would be something he could find hard to bear, the fact he had to disobey, and face a big uncertainty, but as the thought festered, he hastily shook it off by shaking his head. He would not know until he tried. Besides, it was in line with his belief that everything in life is science, and so it would be a great venture to go to. Deep down, he simply wanted to explore the outside world.

"I know this is hard, but I believe too that the world out there would be exciting and it'll be worth giving it a shot. Who cares if there may be danger? I'm in!" he said at last, before confirming the affirmation by giving a strong nod on his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will honestly admit that this is a smooth start, but, as cheesy as this sounds, this is just the beginning and more are to come :o Stay tuned everyone!


	2. Rebellion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Turtles finally set off to the surface on their own.

It had been four days since the turtles celebrated their thirteenth birthday. During those past days, the turtles vamped up their training and worked together to improve their teamwork. What they emphasized however was their hiding abilities which they tackled less and they found it would finally be time that they would now use it. Splinter would come to check in on them, and he found how remarkable they were learning more how to hide, but the turtles were sure he wouldn't expect anything fishy. They could balance it out with some randori and hand to hand combat. It was the same regular day of training.

Once a break was called, the turtles once again gathered at Mikey's room. Luckily, it was a perfect opportunity as Splinter rushed to the living room for his favorite TV show with the volume cranked way up.

"I guess we are all ready," said Leonardo.

"Yes! I'm so excited to leave this pothole!" Raphael exclaimed, and sure, Splinter wouldn't hear anything over the loud drama action.

"Okay. Here's what happens, Splinter goes to sleep at 10. We wait for at least an hour and maybe and a half for him to go fully asleep and we meet here to gear up. Donnie, bring your bombs and divide it among us. We sneak out quietly to the drain and remember, we watch for anything in the sewer, be it a gangster, alligator, or even a crazy hobo. We have about two hours to do our mission. We get out there, pluck anything we can find that isn't here, and retreat quickly. We then can return quietly and go back to sleep. Sounds fair?"

Michelangelo raised a hand, "Ummm… Do we get to stay longer on the surface?"

"That's a good question. Of course!"

Michelangelo squealed back in delight.

"But we can't stay longer than ten minutes, or we expose ourselves more," said Leo, providing the caveat for their surface time.

"That sucks." Raphael hissed.

"What sucks is your little brain!" Michelangelo snickered making Raphael growl louder.

"Enough of that guys! Either we stick together or have our throats cut before we could reach to the surface with your all fighting!"

"Yeah! Sure, Leo," said Raphael in a defeated smile and his left hand scratching at the back of his head.

"We all need a shut-eye before we can go on this mission, Leo." Donatello proposed.

"Agreed. You need to rest guys, we did great today," Leonardo raised "Hands on me!" the three brothers took the sign and clapped their hands to the eldest's.

* * *

"Strike again!"

Splinter poised his shinai up, giving the turtles surrounding him in dread. Sweat dripped all over the whole dojo and the carpet began to get stickier and grimy. Save their heavy breaths, a stillness stirred, turning the whole room dead you could feel your ears ring out of the blue. The turtles were losing themselves to the silence, but how worth would it be to lose their minds in such a heated match?

It was a quarter till nine in the evening… and there was no way these turtles could rest for their mission. They looked at Splinter's face still fresh as daisies, and there would be no way he could get tired.

"What are you waiting for? Fight back!" Splinter demanded again, but still, it was not enough to destroy the stillness. A brief moment passed and Leonardo became the first to strike back. He leaped his feet off to give Splinter an overhead blow from his shinai. Splinter blocked the blow with a slight rise of the bamboo sword while successfully keeping his stance still and steady.

As Leonardo resisted, Donatello, behind his sensei and firmly gripping his shinai, became the next to give a strike. Splinter recoiled by quickly grabbing Leonardo's arm and throwing him off and both turtles fell upon impact.

Raphael, at Splinter's left, stepped in, striking his shinai over and over to Splinter's parries. Raphael pressed on giving fierce vocal exhales at every blow. Splinter kept his ground, his face placid but alert. Splinter looked down to see Raphael's swift feet.

_Pretty fast, but heavily unguarded._

Michelangelo's cry rang through Splinter's ears; Splinter spun sidewards and whacked his shinai on the headstrong turtle's back. The turtle he hit turned and put his guard up, while Michelangelo leaped on his back to make a big jump to give Splinter a big strike.

 _Too high and too late_ , Splinter thought staring daggers. He leaped off to the side as Michelangelo was halfway to the ground. As the youngest turtle landed, Splinter whipped his weapon on the boy's arms, crushing him down. Splinter looked back to see the other three simultaneously going for an overhead cut.

" _Yame!"_ Splinter commanded and at an instant, the boys and their shinai froze. After a brief pause, the turtles lowered their swords, stood straight, and relaxed their stance. Splinter turned in a circle looking at each sweat dripping turtle intently, "How impressive. You did better in not trying to hit me when I stop you. Now, you have gotten stronger, but they are not enough!"

The boys began to tremble to hear such a harsh tone from their master,

"How then do you expect yourselves to step into the surface?"

Leonardo's eyes widened having become stirred with what he said, _Crap! I thought he wouldn't bring that discussion up!_

"Raphael, you are still too brash with your attacks; you keep getting unguarded. Donatello, you are hitting lightly, again, it is fitting you put more force. Michelangelo, You hesitate too much, a ninja never hesitates. Leonardo, you still keep getting yourself open. Only by being open can you fall in defeat. I expect you four to correct yourselves by tomorrow,"

Splinter paused to return his shinai at the rack to his right, first with a bow to his sword and a gentle return to its resting place. He walked to the door and held his dry hand on the wooden beam against the frame. He turned to the side, and his eyes tried their best to face the turtle boys, "We start at six. _Yame…_ We end training today." He departed with a loud slam shutting the paper door shut.

At last, the turtles dropped down to the floor panting and giving themselves expressions of relief.

"Who's up for dojo cleaning duty?" Michelangelo queried in a muffle as his face flattened on the floor,

"No one would wanna clean right now!" Raphael replied wincing as he tried to move his sore legs.

"We're tired, Mikey," Leonardo said while panting.

Donatello looked to the clock on his upper right and squinted to see what time it was, "It's nine o'clock now. Just an hour before Splinter sleeps. If you need me, I'll be in my lab. But first, Imma rest here."

"I can't believe Splinter mentioned the surface. I… just can't believe it!" Leonardo sighed.

"It was scary, man, I tell you, but that shouldn't be our concern." Raphael shot back.

Donatello sighed, moving to lie on his plastron as his head continued to whirl, "I think he's pretty concerned, so we wouldn't..."

Raphael jumped in panic and slapped Donatello's head, cutting him off, "Keep your voice down. He'll hear you." He growled close to his ear.

Leonardo finally stood up to move to a carpet laid near the door carpet sighing, "We still have time. Let's clean up this place anyway." He dropped himself, his hands rolling the carpet in front of him, and moved forward to roll it further. The three looked at each other and shrugged thinking this would be the best thing to do.

* * *

"Mikey… Mikey… Oh, Mikey…" A quiet voice stirred the orange masked turtle half awake. He initially ignored the sound, keeping his body still, and shutting his eyes at his best. He moaned, turning his back and putting his pillow over his head.

"Mikey… Mikey… Oh, Mikey…" The voice came in again and this time Michelangelo began to moan louder and turn his body to all sides. For a moment, more sounds would come in, seemingly an unintelligible conversation of two people, the sleeping turtle shut his eyes and tried to clear his mind as he tried to fall fast asleep even when his ears took in the muffled sounds. The conversation didn't last long after a shuffling sound raked through the floor. The younger turtle continued keeping still and let the slumber take over him.

"Mikey…" a different but kinder and firmer voice came, along with a light shake on the shell. Michelangelo responded to look up and see Donatello putting up a smile slowly raising the youngest turtle.

"Come on, it's almost time," he whispered.

"I thought we are meeting here," Michelangelo shot back in between yawns and body stretches.

"Change of plan. We meet at the lab."

Mikey groaned and stepped off to the cold floor. After giving the rest of his body a big stretch, he grabbed his nunchucks to arm and set off, "It must have been Raph right?" he asked with his mind on the turtle who hushed him awake.

"Yeah, it was."

A single light under the lampshade was what lit the whole lab filled with heaps of metal junk and works in progress cluttered by the corners, and works left untouched for months on an old dusty table by the right corner. The main table was kept clear and there, Leonardo sat to tighten the straps of his knee pads. Raphael sat there too, staring at him and taking a bite of a granola bar. Leonardo stood up as soon as he finished to tighten the pads of his elbows. Raphael broke off his gaze to see Donatello and Michelangelo trailing behind make their entrance. Raphael disposed the empty wrapper on the bin just by the table and stood walking a few steps forward,

"Better keep yourself awake, Mikey. Donnie, splash some water on him would 'ya?" he said.

"Why not?" Donnie said, taking his gourd-shaped canteen of water and pouring some of it unto Mikey's face. Michelangelo interjected in pleasure as the cool water relieved on his face, "Wipe some of it will you?" Donatello requested the younger brother quickly abiding.

"What time is it?" Leonardo asked.

"It's about 2 am," Donatello answered.

"Perfect," he replied, putting his hands on his hips.

Raphael jogged lightly in his place making him breathe too much as if he were on some workout, "I'm so ready for this! It's time to go see the surface. I'm so hype I can just hit anything." he ended with a punch in the air.

Leonardo could not even help feel such excitement to face the world, "This just gets more exciting a second passes!" He exclaimed giddily, "Alright, team. We should be heading out now."

Donatello slightly opened the door and looked around. It was all dark save for the moonlight shining from the center behind the couch. He looked to Splinter's room, all dark inside and out. He let out a thumbs up and slowly pushed the door wide for all of them. Michelangelo swiftly turned off the lights as the door reached halfway agape. The turtle boys soon quietly crept out to the dark hall, minding their steps as they went along. Donatello went last to quietly shut his lab door tight and secure.

The moment the turtles were about half a meter from the main entrance, they switched on their donned improvised flashlight helmets dispelling the dark sewers with golden lights. To not startle anything in the sewer or even trip themselves over, they decided to walk to where the sewer drain is.

"We have time, guys, so there's nothing much to worry, I guess." Donatello chimed in, "We'll be there in about thirty minutes."

Raphael groaned as he was too agitated of just getting up there. Nevertheless, he continued to walk as he had to replenish the energy he lost from that recent training.

A moment of silence passed and all of a sudden a loud yawn echoed throughout the wide dark sewer. All eyes went on Mikey, getting sluggish and lagging. Raphael growled and clenched his fists curling his arms to assume a fight,

"Seriously, if you're not that awake, we'll leave you here for someone to get you!"

"Hah! There's no one here." Michelangelo spat back in retaliation even being somnolent.

Leonardo, his blood beginning to boil shot back at his brothers and demanded, "Will you two shut up? We're close to the manhole already! Come on, let's just run!" Leonardo soon gave a heads up as he ran the ninja way. The three turtle brothers caught up, but a few feet in, Leonardo suddenly stopped, letting out his hands to the side to stop them. His halted brothers looked at each other and mumbled with what kept them.

"I heard something. I think we are being followed." Leonardo looked over in every dark passageway, left, right, back, and straight, "Listen,"

They were only taps, maybe those on the metal pipes above, but the longer and more focused they listened, they could hear a faint set of steps echoing over the sewer. It vibrated on all spaces in high intensity, as if there were more making such. The brothers immediately closed their flashlights and huddled together by gluing their backs close. Their hearts leaped miles and their spines chilled, making them shiver, and such tension aggravated as they spent longer in the dark.

Donatello darted his eyes to a faint piece of white light shooting down from some ceiling. The light was way ahead but not too far. He ultimately figured it must have been from the sewer drain to the surface, but he could not tell them of what it was with the steps going around. The surface was their only goal, and they had a chance to get there and see what they desired, but with these steps making waves all over the hollow lonely sewer, it all fell into tragedy.

Leonardo slowly brought his hands to the handles of his two katana but dared not pull them out abruptly. He had to wait as what Master Splinter had taught him and his brothers. His hands clenched on; it felt like they were gluing with them.

Raphael began to twitch his arms, he could not help but throw a shuriken at the passageway he was facing, but he couldn't startle anything, so he waited until it was right to do so. The steps continued and they were getting louder each step making his lips begin to quiver.

Michelangelo kept still, finally fully awake. He moved his head to the whole sewer around him, even if they were too dark.

The darkness became a living hell, crawling with a dangerous entity regardless of form or size, a monster. Heck, there could be many more of them. The turtles dared not open their flashlights or everything would end in on them. Raphael could not take it. He swiftly threw a shuriken straight in his direction, but his brothers contained their flinch as they thought it must be a plan. The shuriken made its end twanging on the cemented walls far off and hitting on the ground.

Raphael threw one again, this time towards the direction where the presumed manhole would be. Another twang rang the sewers, and finally, everything went silent.

Leo took a slow deep breath, his hands still glued on his swords. He made sure no one would let their guard down. With a sharp exhale he nudged Donatello with his shoulder telling him to move around, the chain followed and so they turned sideways, rotating the circle they made. They looked deep into the darkness hoping something would come out and face them and then, from where Leonardo first faced, a yellow light held by a silhouette of what seemed to be a regular-sized man, someone with broad shoulders wearing fitting clothes.

The figure gasped, and soon after drifted his feet forward. The light began to jump up and down, its coverage increasing. The figure was running!

"Run back! Run back!" Leonardo hissed and the turtles ran off back. Shortly, Donatello bumped on something, a figure quite bigger than he grunting as it advanced to grab the boy's shoulders. Donatello yelped to his tight flesh sinking grip and threw him off quite easily, although he seemed heavier at it.

"FLASHLIGHTS! FLASHLIGHTS!" Donatello screamed, making everyone turn their flashlights on, and finally, the monster was revealed, but that was not a monster but three men, all fair-skinned, having thin eyes and wearing black shirts and jeans half crouched down opening their flashlights as well. They began to put up distraught faces and mumbled seeing some strange creatures right in front of them.

In an instant, Donatello smashed two of his rough charcoal like smoke bombs on the floor producing a hazy black smoke. Even being stunned by the dust getting onto their eyes and nose, they shortly recovered and looked through the transparent cloud at the turtles making their retreat. The men leaped with their long big legs until one of the men caught Raphael.

The red masked turtle flinched panting and drew out his sai to jab unto his pursuer's leg, the man screeched and held onto the blood-spurting wound, but as he began to rise again, his head would get whacked by Donatello's bō rendering him unconscious. A bruise slowly began to form at his right temple. Donatello picked up the fallen Raphael and quickly ran up to catch up with the rest.

The two men began to go after them, while another man with a flashlight at hand coming from the side quickly ducked down to tend the fallen comrade. He looked to the wound, a stab on the left thigh, with blood trickling down on both his pants and the floor.

Michelangelo threw three shurikens on the men, making them lose coordination but not enough to take them down. It only cost some dodges making the two men bump each other but quickly they got back on their feet.

"Why are they still following us?!" Leonardo asked, his mind anxious that the smoke bombs didn't work.

"I told you, my smoke bombs aren't that great! Let's throw all of 'em!" Donatello shot back jumping to face the back and throw three more black smoke bombs at the men. The turtles did likewise. The bombs burst on their bodies forming a black cloud to envelop them. They ducked down coughing and shutting their eyes. Finally, it was effective enough to stop them.

"Flashlights off!" Donatello commanded and the brothers switched off their lights while making their run. No word was uttered as they ran although Raphael was pretty much behind them and he badly needed to call them out. He could tell as their footsteps began to fade. He ran faster, but it seemed to be no use. His legs began to go weak. He also noticed his breaths to become pretty heavy. He repeatedly gasped for air and his sweat began to soak him all over,

_No! I can't stop! I have to get outta here._

The more he tried to run, the more his body was willing to give up. He pressed on even as his legs and feet burned fiercely. Raphael gnashed his teeth as the pain continued to gnaw on his legs. He crashed his teeth harder to the point of grinding them as his legs began to slow down, but still, he continued to run, widening his steps.

A scream shot from the back and a pair of hands held his shoulders. He leaped off breaking away to face the opposite direction and turned on the flashlight to see one of the men right in front of him. Raphael redrew his two sai and engaged in battle. The man quickly dodged to his back to do a bear hug. The turtle dropped both his sai to let himself go from him, his adrenaline at full peak, attempting to throw him, but at once, the second man approached and blocked his mouth with something white and damp, he muffled and his nose inevitably took a sweet smell. His anger boiled in every glance at the vicious face of the man in front. He continued to struggle, shoving himself out of the grip and the damp object with his all. Eventually, his muscles relaxed, followed by his mind entering a haze. He struggled on but he was weakening, and he finally stopped as soon as his eyes dropped to sleep.

The first man carried the turtle off with his arms. He walked slowly to meet his group facing their flashlights on him shouting over in what seemed to be Cantonese. The man carrying the turtle said nothing in reply as he walked back, but his comrade beside him did. As they arrived, the group decided to return by turning to their right where they came.

What was now left from that place were the two sai right where they fell.


	3. A Boy in the Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leonardo finds the missing Raphael on his own.

The three turtles gradually slowed their run to a light jog eventually turning to a stop to take a breather. It was safe as the silence from behind lasted for a good number of minutes. The three turtles opened their flashlights and looked around, no more of these men trying to take them,

"I was right. The news and reports were right!" Donatello panted.

"Where did Raph go?" Leonardo asked, his face soaking in panic as he could not find him.

"Raph!" Michelangelo called out assuming he was pretty behind.

Donatello walked slowly back and inspected the passageway closely. No sign. "Raph!" he called out loudly. Still, there was no response, and anxiety began to gnaw on him,

"Oh no…"

Leonardo cursed and slammed his fists on the cemented floor, "Those triads must have taken him! We need to get him back! I swear, they will pay!"

"He's too strong to be behind. How could he..." Michelangelo shook his head strongly, "No! I can't lose a brother,"

"How could I leave him?" Leonardo sobbed fearing that he failed everyone and because of that, Raph was missing.

"We're probably toast. If Master Splinter finds out…" Michelangelo stopped as his throat began to choke.

"Maybe he doesn't have to," Leonardo spoke, wiping his eyes, and raising his head followed by his body, "We can find him, and we make sure Splinter never knows. I have a plan. I will go back and find Raph myself."

The younger turtles gasped and looked at each other shocked with what he just said,

Donatello stepped up to protest, "We can't let you do this alone, Leo. Not even when he's on you. He's on us too, and we will find him."

Leonardo stopped, hit with his brother's words that Raphael would not necessarily be on him, but he nevertheless still felt it was, even being the eldest. He proceeded to sigh and his mind puzzled some pieces together to form a good plan. After a few moments of thinking, he had it,

"We can't make Splinter worry. That's why you two have to stay in the lair. I will go out and find him myself, but don't worry. I'll use one of your trackers, Donnie, to keep ourselves in check. Check on me in the lab and don't let Splinter in. The moment you start training, tell him that Raph and I just went sick, and whatever happens, you don't let him in our rooms, do you understand?"

The two turtles nodded.

"What time is it, D?"

Donatello looked at his wristwatch, "Four o'clock."

"Shit! Just an hour before Splinter wakes up. We better get back to the lab and have the tracker set on me fast. After that, you two can go back to bed and rest."

"How are you gonna rest then, Leo?" Michelangelo asked, worried that tiredness would take him and jeopardize the mission, "Nothing's the same without you and Raph." his face began to blush red and his mouth started to tremble.

In anguish, Leonardo walked closer to the orange masked turtle, "Everything will be fine, Mikey." he replied hugging his younger brother.

Donatello's lip began to curl as the sentiment pierced his heart more fiercely seeing that embrace. He grimaced at the thought that their brother had been missing and what needed to be done was to comfort and be comforted. Donatello walked right up and wrapped his long arms at both his brothers.

* * *

It was now 4:40 am and there was no light in the lair, except for the one in the lab closed and locked.

"How's the tracker doing, Leo?"

"It's well hidden and secure." Leonardo looked to the thin metallic tracker, with a yellow light flashing in the center clipped within his belt.

"You know, this tracker runs on a radio connection and since we can't get a good signal from above, I attached an emitter that can connect to this device." His thumb pointed to some sort of mechanical contraption, something like a computer monitor, only the screen is a green circle with yellow square shapes forming a map. In one huge chunk of a polygon, a sharper yellow light beeped which seemed to be the tracker. "This emitter can go up to a hundred meters, allowing you to..."

"Blah blah blah, Donnie, We get it." Michelangelo scorned, unamused.

"I'm just explaining here." Donatello sighed and faced Leonardo, "I hope it stays in your belt. Those triads shouldn't be able to find it, but for sure we won't know what they're having, so keep it tight."

"I will," Leo walked to the door and faced his brothers upfront, "Well, I should be going now. Good luck with Splinter. I'm gonna find out who they are, why they set up in the sewers, and why they took Raph. I'll make sure Raph comes home."

"Leo," Michelangelo retrieved from the main table a granola bar and threw it towards the eldest brother, who caught it with one hand. He glanced at the goodie and squeezed it in inside, "Thanks, Mikey."

Michelangelo stuck out a thumb and gave a cheerful face, "Sure thing, brah."

"Good luck, Leo!" Donatello said last as soon as Leonardo went out that door.

The same silence and void permeated throughout the dark lair. There was nothing but some light from the moon shining over the open hole lightening up the lair a bit allowing the boy to escape easily. He glanced towards Splinter's room, which was dark as usual, and stared a bit longer. He knew he had to run and save his missing brother behind his back, and that would pile more sins in his record. He suddenly realized that he should never betray his family, not even his father, but with Raph gone missing, what was there to do? Nevertheless, he sinned ever since they attempted, and now he would have to sin again to save a life.

Leonardo nimbly dashed out into the dark lair. Arriving just outside the lair, he slowed his steps to a full stop. He clicked his flashlight open and its golden light made its way again into the deadly dark of the sewer.

Leonardo took a deep breath and opened the wrapper holding the granola bar. He took a bite out of it and his nerves relaxed to its honey taste. It was only one bite and that would be enough for him to keep him going back to where things first went wrong.

Being in the darkness alone was a troublesome time for the eldest turtle. He may be equipped with one flashlight, his weapons, and ninjutsu, but what were they to the dark? Leonardo understood the dark as a strange phenomenon bent to terrorize and meant to protect. Now, the former was in effect, although it should not be that of a big deal as the latter saved his shell from the men.

When he was six, Leonardo had been constantly afraid of the dark. It was closely tied into his past top second fear of snakes and if he ever came across hearing or bringing into thought these two together, his spine would be rock frozen and be consumed in the ominous aura of doom. There were nights he would confine to Donnie whenever his room was pitch black or when the night light got busted. Leonardo would repeatedly knock on Donatello's bedroom door panicking and begging him that he stay. A reason he gave was that if it were dark, snakes from below would have an opportunity to slither around and finally feast on some living flesh. Donnie did not have a say to such, but whatever may happen, he would always let his older brother sleep by his side.

He stopped coming to Donnie for nights by the time he was eight. He knew it was because he naturally grew accustomed to the dark and eventually snakes although he didn't know why. He asked Master Splinter one day how that would be possible, he answered (despite not being a psychologist himself) that within the unconscious, which Splinter called " _the hidden mind"_ , it was able to reason itself, and know what there was and what there isn't.

Splinter's answer to how one can handle such fear was not enough to quell the boy's fears, especially in having to find his missing brother. He was terrified, judging by his slow shaky walks, and being in a place he had not been in before, it was telling. Nevertheless, he pressed on even when his heart pumped and his nerves chilled. He looked at every tunnel, hoping he would not find any of these gangsters making their patrol. He walked and at the same time looked back over to know where he once left off. He later arrived at a familiar place, proven with some dark splattered stains on the cemented floor, he quickly rushed to it and squatted down to get a closer look.

The splatter was pretty dark and he followed some trail to the left, all brush-like strokes followed by droplets going way to the left tunnel. It looked too close to be blood since what lacked was its smell, but he was sure that was blood. He looked around at the tunnels and recognized those same tunnels from the strife. Now, his next guess was where Raphael had gone. Surely he tried to run back and so he walked back inspecting everything on the ground and much to his horror he found the evidence: two sai on the floor. Leonardo picked them up and set them to the sides of his belt. He returned to the front and finally figured he had been taken.

Leonardo had two choices, a left, and a right tunnel, but with the blood marks trailing to the left, he decided to go that way.

The narrower left tunnel was empty, and his past fear slowly resurfaced, but with deep breaths, he would be able to pull it through. As he continued to walk, he slowly pulled out his katanas from the back. The friction squeaked briefly as he pulled them out slowly. He looked down to the ground to find more dark droplets on the ground making the turtle grin and eagerly follow them. Even if the drops of blood were quite far from each other, Leonardo sure knew where they were heading. They led to another tunnel on the left and then a tunnel to the right.

Pass that passage, the drops ended. Leonardo proceeded to scratch his chin with his thumb and whispered to himself silently, "Now where did they go?" He looked towards three more tunnels, one ahead, one on the left, and one on the right. That was tricky, but he had to choose one. He decided to take the straight path and who knows what may be there.

The path was straight and it went on and on as he walked without any other passage on the side. Leonardo still kept his guard up but took a casual walk to relax a bit. The darkness seemed unending as he went along but the more he walked the more he embraced it,

_Bent to terrorize and meant to protect. That's for certain._

Leonardo took a deep breath to silently sing some opening lines of _The Sound of Silence_ , a song he would constantly hear on the radio when he was much younger, and being reminded of it made him feel like a kid again. The track played perfectly in his head and went in sync with his hushed voice. He could only repeat the first verse as it was the only part of the lyrics he knew very well.

He eventually grew tired singing that verse so he shifted to hum the notes. Even if he couldn't get the most of his voice, it did a lot to help him face the darkness. The more he sang, the more he began to get more friendly with the darkness and somehow they both became friends, and they would rely on each other when the situation demanded it.

Leonardo stopped his singing as he began to see a faint light ahead shooting from the left. He quickly closed his flashlight, crouched down, and put his swords back. He swiftly jogged to the crossing point so as not to get caught without any place to hide. As he reached by the left wall, he looked to the right, dark but somehow free of people. He glanced a bit to the left to the white light shining more brightly and of course, it was held by a silhouette.

He crouched down and with a deep breath, he glanced to the right and let a shuriken fly there. It twanged at the walls far ahead, alarming the silhouette with a gasp. As Leonardo caught sight of the man passing by, Leonardo leaped off to make a run. With occasional back looks, it seemed he was able to be on the clear. He crept down to wait for more of the men to come. A minute passed and no sign came.

Leonardo sighed and checked the tracker within his belt. The yellow light blinked twice at sets orderly. _Double relief_. Leonardo stood up and clicked his flashlight open again. He was in a crossroad, three tunnels ahead of him. He groaned, _Come on, can this stop happening? Seriously!_

Leonardo assured himself once again and decided to make a pick. With his gut, he headed for the tunnel on the left, Which was a narrow one. He walked along, but about a minute in he was beginning to hear footsteps. He quickly closed his flashlight and ducked down to wait.

The footsteps began to get louder and the longer he stayed, the faster his heart raced. He balanced it out by breathing in and out and finally, a white light from ahead coming from the left path shone. A shadowy figure entered and stopped halfway.

_Don't look at me. I'm warning you._

The shadowy figure walked on and did not bother to stop. The turtle looked down and sighed in relief. He then immediately stood and dashed to the crossing point before that man could come back. Having estimated his distance, He steered left and ran along keeping his feet quiet as if they were walking on air. He kept straight until a light entered to shine on his direction. He braked, gliding his legs forward as he stopped. The friction that came triggered an alarm on the figure. Yet, he thanked heaven he wasn't hit by the light.

The light approached and the turtle backed up a bit. Slowly both forces moved and gradually their speed increased. Leonardo's face began to curl in fits of anger and his hands slowly fumbled aiming for the katanas.

Leonardo looked behind and there, a white light. Leonardo shot two shurikens at the man in front stabbing somewhere on the arms. Leonardo dashed to stop him completely by slicing a katana on his leg. It must have been a deep cut, proven with a strong clean slice and a piercing wail.

Leonardo rushed past the wounded man and turned his flashlight on as there was no more use of hiding.

Two tunnels were ahead. He picked the one on the right and there a man with a flashlight turned to the strange golden light catching his vision. He turned and Leonardo positioned himself to face him. A battle ensued ending with the turtle slicing his legs.

He darted forward, only to be stopped by a hard object ramming on his cheek. The turtle staggered to the floor dropping his katana and wincing in pain, but he was not fully down as the mutagen in his system enabled him to withstand any force that can highly cause injury.

He stood up again to claim his sword and make an overhead cut only to be kicked in the plastron pushing his little body down.

 _You keep getting yourself open!_ Splinter's words came once again to his mind.

Leonardo faced the man who, to the turtle's horror, was bearing some protection on his body: kevlar armor on his torso, arms, and shins. What was worse was the fact that he was carrying a huge gun.

His mouth trembled and his eyes widened. He backed up fearfully while his mind scrambled to find a plan, but there was no plan he could make, no matter how hard his mind searched for ideas. He was lost to the mercy of the armored man who beat him. He looked closely into his eyes, thin ones getting thinner as he shot daggers, and as he got too close, his eyes began to widen probably with some freak he was seeing.

_Blam!_

Leonardo's body shook as the back of his head received a bad blow and the last sensation he could feel was his side thumping on the ground.

* * *

The first thing he could feel was his side, lying on a cold metal floor. When he stood up, his body weighed anvils. They ached all over and he wished he could just lie down again so he could sleep and wake up in his room without anything crazier to happen. Shortly, his body dropped again and he hissed in pain.

He blinked twice and his eyes seemed to clear a bit as he went at it. They darted all over and he noticed that it was dim and he must be in some enclosed room with some shelves filled with crates. He closed his eyes again to gather his internal energy together and once he was ready, he opened them again, and at the same time reached his hands to something pretty much like metal bars. He hoisted himself up, his arms straining as he brought himself to sit.

He must have gotten better now, as it didn't take too long. He took a set of deep breaths and opened his eyes to find where he was.

It was certainly according to what he saw first, but it was more cramped up than he realized. He was sitting inside a medium-sized metal cage with a lock that could be opened by a key. The room was dim since there was only one incandescent light under a lampshade hanging from the center of the ceiling. Around him were cages of many sizes including a copy of his cage beside his, boxes, crates, and two pairs of two shelves of more crates occupying the walls to his left and right. Neither of them was labeled.

In front of him was a wooden door, shabby, grimy, and filled with tiny holes and hollow marks on the bottom presumably gnawed up all over. Upon realizing the holes and marks were gnawed, he shuddered. His heart soon raced fiercely yet he kept himself in place. His breaths were slowly getting uneasy, and so was his stomach he wished he could throw up.

A laugh erupted from outside shaking the turtle. He immediately lay down to make sure no one coming would find him awake. The laugh followed with some loud voices, and he was sure they were Chinese. The door blasted open and a man in a white shirt inserted into dark skinny pants entered carrying a familiar-looking figure, or perhaps a silhouette. The figure was slung over the man's shoulder and approached the medium-sized cage beside him.

The man set the unmoving figure on the ground, which seemed corpselike. He then silently opened the lock from his set of keys and as the cage door opened, he nudged the figure inside, which now lay on its side. As he finished locking him up, a voice shot out from outside. The man yelled back and continued doing so as he exited, closing the door behind him.

The turtle brought himself to his knees to inspect the captive. And in horror, he was more than a familiar. He had nothing slung on his shell and the back of his head garnered a purple bruise above the blue bandana he was wearing. The turtle's eyes widened, his chest crushed, and his hands clenched onto the metal bars tightly,

"Leo…"


	4. Two Remain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donnie and Mikey decide to find their missing brothers without Splinter knowing

"Oh, God forbid anything bad happens!" Donatello prayed as he noticed the yellow dot staying still for some time. It had not moved for nearly twenty minutes. He made trips going back every five minutes, but still, it was stagnant. He hoped the yellow dot would retrace itself signifying that Raphael was rescued, although anything could happen, be it a glitch, a bug, loss of coverage, and thinking more about what may happen would drive him nuts.

Donatello, stood up to hide the monitor with a blue coarse cloth and walked right out of his lab while still internally screaming.

It had already been five, but it seemed Splinter didn't wake up yet. His room was still dark, and so were the rest of the rooms, giving Donatello a sigh of relief,

_Looks like you're alive, for now._

After taking a glass of water and a piece of bread in the kitchen, he headed to Michelangelo's room, and without even bothering to knock, he simply let himself in, and sure Michelangelo was in bed, but he wasn't asleep. He was on his back, deadpan and throwing a soiled tennis ball upwards and catch it with his one hand repeatedly.

"I have news, Mikey." Donatello began, but Michelangelo did not respond, "Hey…"

"What, D?" he finally answered plainly. That was when Donatello had to divert for a while.

"You can't sleep?"

"No,"

"I understand."

"That surface quest was a failure."

Donatello sighed as the words tugged his chest too much, "We don't have to mind that now. We are finding Raph and I'm sure he'll be found."

"I just don't have anyone to mess with. He's the only guy I can mess with. And Leo. I can't lose him too,"

Donatello sighed sorrowfully, "Let's eat breakfast, shall we? How about some ramen with boiled eggs and carrots. How does that sound?"

"You think I'm sick? I'm not sick."

Donatello thought otherwise, that was why it was fitting that Mikey would need some of that ramen, a meal the turtles were to take when they fall sick.

"Let's go make it anyway."

Michelangelo lit up a smile as he brought himself to sit and hold the ball in his hands, "Yeah,"

"By the way, here's what I'm meaning to tell you. I hope you don't go nuts, but, Leo's track's been stable for about twenty minutes. It's pretty hard to explain, but it's been stalling at some point far from the lair. It could be a bug, or worse, Leo must be in trouble."

"I have no idea what you're saying, dude."

Donatello sighed in little frustration, "The yellow light's not moving. That means, there must be something going on, although we don't know that yet. I hope Leo's okay."

"Can we just make breakfast already?" the orange masked turtle groaned.

Donatello would not want to, especially that he had been stressed and Mikey may not get the whole issue seriously, but as he thought of it again, he realized there must be more than the words were spoken. He had to let go of the stress for a while,

"Of course." he finally said.

They arrived at the kitchen not too long but to their surprise, they saw Splinter seated and munching on some cheese.

"Master Splinter! I didn't expect you to be here!" said Michelangelo.

"I did not expect you to be here either, especially with only you two," Splinter pointed his cheese at both the turtle boys, "Where are Leonardo and Raphael?"

An alarm set off in Donatello, "Oh! Leo and Raph just felt sick today. I took their temperatures, they're pretty in bad shape."

"I guess you are to make _the_ _meal_ for them, are you?"

"A-absolutely!"

"It seemed Michelangelo and you could make it yourself, so I will just leave you be and check in on them," Splinter stood setting a fiercer danger alarm on the two turtles,

"Slow down, sensei! I can go check on them. Mikey's got the guts for a nurse, brah! He the best nurse in the house! And my boss Donnie here," He nudged on the tall turtle's side so much for his reactionary cringe, "Tells me all I need to take care of them."

Splinter raised an eyebrow, somehow amused with Michelangelo's confidence and his prowess in housework. He shrugged, "Alright. I guess you can check in on them. I will begin training, but remember, be in the dojo by 6!" he said before shutting the kitchen door.

Donatello looked to Mikey in a frustrated sigh, "Well, that was easy,"

"I got your back, brah!"

"There's no time! Splinter could be going to our rooms. Guard their doors before he gets there. I'll be in the lab to check Leo's position."

"No ramen then?"

"There's no time!"

"Got it!"

"I just hope we'll make it out just fine," muttered Donatello as both turtles stepped out of the room.

Michelangelo walked casually and quickly sprinted to the bedrooms. No Splinter, as he was in the dojo grunting and making cool karate moves, as the youngest turtle had thought. He chuckled and sat on the end looking all over the place.

"Nothing's changed. Leo, you should go fix this place and have it cleaned," said Michelangelo, not minding who else may hear him. "Raph, I know you're pretty responsible too, so you help Leo with that chore! Donnie, my man, put some spycam on top so I can snoop around Raph all day!" he ended with a sigh and laid his small head at the back of the wall. Eventually, his eyes would shut to sleep.

"Mikey," Michelangelo woke up to hear a brother's voice and he felt it took ten minutes, "I just checked on Leo. "

The youngest turtle yawned, "But we have training to do, D."

"Not today. Not when our brothers' lives are on the line."

"But Master Splinter!"

"No worries, Mikey. I got this."

* * *

Master Splinter sat on his knees gazing at the paper door. His seat was still, but he had to stand to find Donatello and Michelangelo who had not arrived yet. He faced the clock at the back and it was 6:10. Splinter sighed and stood up groaning, surprised that this was the first time his two sons would be late for their lesson.

It was unfortunate too that Leonardo and Raphael could not join, since they're "sick". But with all these strange occurrences, Splinter felt something was off today. After a sigh, he stood up and exited the dojo. He looked around and saw there was no one else. It was peculiar since they would usually hang out there if they weren't training Splinter struck his long beard and began to think what on earth was actually going on.

Instead of calling the two brothers to the dojo at once, he darted to the kitchen. As he entered, the sink was empty, and so was the metal structure for drying. He checked one of the cabinets and it seemed the pans were kept as is. He checked the bin, no sign of opened packaging, not even from instant ramen.

"Hmm.." Splinter muttered, his mind still aroused with thought.

He exited the kitchen and the living room was the same as before. He groaned and proceeded to the rooms to check on Leonardo and Raphael himself. As he arrived in the hallway, he decided it was best to check on Leonardo first. He slowly let his hands begin to knock,

"Master Splinter!" a voice rang stopping the mutant rat's knuckles millimeters before the wooden door. He turned to see Michelangelo with his hands back and giving a teeth glaring smile.

"Michelangelo, what are you doing here? Did I not say you be in the dojo now?"

"Uhhh…" Michelangelo thought of something else to say, "We… are quite busy, sensei! Especially Donnie. He asked me to leave him alone or he would hit me."

"How are you two busy today?" Splinter queried again, his eyes lightening up.

"I don't know, but he said I should keep an eye on Leo and Raph."

"Is that so? Do I not have to check in on them too?"

Michelangelo jumped, "Oh no no no no no! You don't have to! You can call Donnie to train while I stay here and guard the two older bros."

"You can come back anyway, now, let me ask you, Michelangelo. I just went to the kitchen and I found out you have not made _the meal_ for them. Are they hungry?"

Michelangelo stopped for a while, "Yeah... No! They're not hungry, in fact, they just told me!"

Splinter looked over to Leonardo's bedroom door, "Is that so, Leonardo?"

There was no response. He called out again and it was just the same. The mutant rat faced the young turtle raising a brow, "Why is he not responding?"

"He must be asleep!" the turtle replied picturing himself sleeping.

"What about you, Raphael?" Splinter said looking at Raphael's door.

No response either. This time, he did not call out again. His eyes narrowed realizing that something off was going on.

"Are you sure they are asleep?" he asked.

"Yeah, they are sensei!"

"But they will comply when I ask of them,"

"They may not be in the mood, I believe,"

Splinter raised an eyebrow and gave the boy a puzzled look. He stepped a foot forward and another, and gradually his lips curled to an angry look, "Why are you stopping me?"

Michelangelo began to step back a bit, trembling and figuring the worst to come.

"Why are you and Donatello not at the dojo?"

"Sensei, we're busy."

"His gadgets can wait a while, while you are fit enough to train. Training comes first!" Splinter sternly assured.

"Sensei, please, they need to rest. Please don't go in." Michelangelo pleaded, but all went in vain as Splinter reached for the doorknob to turn and enter the room pushing the door harshly.

"Sensei, don't!" But it was no use.

"Leonardo!" the mutant rat called out and to his shock, it was vacant. The bed had been arranged and his desk and the floor spotless. A chill rushed to his spine and his mind began to spiral. Splinter slammed the door and proceeded to Raphael's room. As he entered, it was just like Leo's room, spotless and vacant. Michelangelo froze in place not knowing what to do anymore.

Splinter exited walking backward and gently closed the door, "Where are Leonardo and Raphael?" Splinter asked softly but it was drenched in anger.

"How are they missing, _I mean_ , not there, sensei?" Michelangelo asked timidly.

Splinter approached the young turtle who now had much to go through, especially from his father at his worst state, "You are hiding something from me." Splinter tightly grabbed Michelangelo's arm and forcefully pulled him to meet with Donatello.

"No no no! How is this possible?" Donatello cupped his hands to his head to see the yellow dot not moving at all, even for more than a couple of minutes, "I guess I have to restart again and…" he stopped as a thumping sound rang in the air. He looked behind to see Splinter holding his staff at one hand and gripping Michelangelo tightly at the other.

Splinter threw the youngest turtle forward making him stumble as he tried to regain his balance.

"Donatello, you two are hiding something from me. Leonardo and Raphael are missing!"

Donatello froze and he would stutter to answer, "I-I don't understand, sensei."

A silence loomed afterward, but abruptly ended with a snicker from the mutant rat, "Did your elder brothers tell you they are heading somewhere?"

"N-not that I know of, sensei." the purple masked turtle answered timidly.

The mutant rat looked at the activating strange monitor behind him, and he quickly guessed it to be a tracker.

"What's this little invention you have here, Donatello? Maybe a tracking device for your brothers?"

Donatello looked at the monitor. He had to play along, but he could barely try to give any good excuse, "It's nothing, sensei." That was all he could say.

"Where are your brothers?" Splinter asked again louder and more demanding.

No one answered, allowing Splinter to raise an eyebrow, "Do not tell me you have attempted to go to the surface on your own, did you not?"

"T-they must have gone to t-train somewhere not far from here, I guess, or they went to the swimming hole to strengthen themselves up…" Donatello stammered.

Splinter instantly marched right up to the turtle stopping his defense by giving a smack against the boy's cheek with his palm. The purple masked turtle left with shuddering breaths and his face stayed still. He clenched his hands to fists while his whole body froze and at the same time trembled to his cheek stinging pretty worse than he could have thought it would be.

"Tell me the truth, or I will strike you both with my staff nonstop!" Splinter growled aiming the end of his staff at both turtles, he eventually lowered it down in an accented strike on the floor, "Speak,"

Donatello took a huge breath and let out in sorrow, "Okay! The four of us tried to prove to you that we can go up the surface on our own, and that's why we left early. We did all we could, according to Leo's plan, but things didn't go the way we intended!"

"Will you tell me what happened, Michelangelo?"

Donnie took a breath to continue, "We encountered…"

"I am talking to Michelangelo,"

Michelangelo took a deep breath and the words that would follow would be painful to hear, "We encountered some Chinese gangsters, sensei. We ran off from them, but the next moment we stopped, Raph was gone," Splinter gasped to hear such horror, "We thought he was taken. Leo said he would find him himself, and we stayed here to not keep you worried."

After a long pause, Donatello spoke up again, "Good news is, I placed a tracker on Leo to know where he went and so we can trace Raph. I was able to program to allow the device to contain a history of his coordinates and so, it'll be easier to find him. Right now, the yellow dot, that is Leo, is stagnating. It hasn't been moving since the past hour,"

Donatello retrieved what seemed to be a handheld miniature tracker shaped and held like a remote located not far from the monitor. Donatello walked closer handing him the tracker for Splinter to take it, "Here, sensei. Take it. It's a handheld tracker. We can trace from the history of the coordinates and maybe we can find Leo and Raph."

Splinter's face turned less grim and took the device casually, "I will find your brothers alone, and you, in under no circumstance, be allowed to leave. I will lock you here until they are home."

"No! Sensei, wait!" Donatello cried out and rushed to stop him. Michelangelo followed to do the same,

"Please, sensei, we can help you! We've been there!" cried Michelangelo tugging the sleeve of Splinter's kimono to stop him, but only to be pushed away.

"Do not follow me! I will have to beat you if I have to," Splinter retorted in a raised voice,

Donatello rushed to stop the mutant rat by blocking him out with his arms spread out. Splinter stopped and his heart began to break all the more in anger and anxiety.

"Donatello, what is wrong with you?!" Splinter would strike the purple masked turtle down, but he could not because his heart weighed too much his body languished with it.

Donatello could barely keep himself sobbing. He kept his guard by keeping his arms up, "No, sensei, no! Stop! Please, you can't go alone and keep us locked up here. You don't know what it is like out there,"

Splinter snickered again, "And you dare disobey me again by blocking me out of the way, and demanding me that you come? You have disobeyed me enough,"

"We can help you find Leo and Raph, and we promise, we will make up for all this… foolishness… that... stupid crazy idea we pulled off. We regret everything just to prove ourselves and you, just please take us with you. We can help," Donatello looked up to his father, his eyes full of tears.

Splinter thought he could push them away anyway, but he found they had a point. They seemed to be willing enough to make up for what they did,

Splinter looked to the side, his eyes, trying their best to dart towards Michelangelo, "You are not to leave my side on more than two feet. Do you understand?" he said looking back at Donatello.

"Hai, sensei!" the two turtles replied in unison.

'We leave now!" Splinter finally marched out the room while Donnie let on his way to tell Michelangelo an unexpected new plan,

"Let's go, Mikey," Donatello said, putting both his hands at his brother's shoulders, "It's time to save our brothers!"

Michelangelo nodded his head sporting off with a smirk of confidence.

* * *

The red masked turtle nudged his brother slowly opening his eyes, "Wake up, Leo!" he said and fortunately, the turtle in blue woke and his eyes laid on Raph's.

"Where are we?" Leonardo groaned and put a hand on his spinning head.

"We are kidnapped somehow,"

"I came to save you, and now look at what happened to us."

"We'll just see who took us and beat the shit outta 'em." Raphael lightly struck a fist to his open palm suggesting that he'd be willing to take them down.

Leo then realized his swords were not on his back, "No. We can't. We don't have our weapons with us but," Leonardo reached for the bandages wrapped around his right foot. He slid a finger in to take out a short flat object wrapped in brown cloth. As he unwrapped it, Raphael began to chuckle, amazed that he kept a tiny tanto underneath,

"Ho ho ho! Leo, you monster!" he said.

"Been keeping this even before we left. We can bust ourselves outta here with this baby."

A loud clamor erupted out that door making the two brothers look ahead. As the clamor began to die down, Leonardo quickly wrapped the tanto back and slid it to its rightful place.

Soon enough the door opened gently to reveal a man, a rather muscular one, dressed in a black shirt, jeans, and sneakers. He was clean, given the clean shave on his face, and slicked short hair with bangs waxed to the back. Behind him were other men in similar clothing and features murmuring to see a surprise.

The clean man in front raised his right hand, silencing his comrades and darted his eyes at the two turtles keeping still and giving wary looks. He placed his hands on his pockets and grinned at such an interesting sight.

The man snorted and asked one question, "Who are you?"


	5. A Maze of Pests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Splinter sets out to find the two older brothers, who are making an escape of their own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, it's been a while now. I've been busy, but I know the story should go on!

The question, " _Who are you?"_ was rather odd. One would ask, " _What are they?"_ if they were to see strange creatures. He said nothing else afterward. The turtle brothers were surprised that that was all he said. Could it be that he recognized the humanity that lives in all living beings, be it human or not. Perhaps he was a better soul than anyone else from above.

But they snapped out of it. Whether or not he could see humanity in all things, that did not make the turtles question nor answer anything, but if speaking would be the best way to convince them that they are not like any animal, then it definitely would.

"What do you think we are?" Leonardo asked.

A loud gasp and loud clamor from the men in the back were the response. The man in front was no different in that reaction, albeit a little jump on both face and shoulders.

"You speak!" he said.

"Yeah! We basically aren't like any animal so too bad for you. Where are we?" Raphael demanded shaking the metal bars.

The man walked forward and squatted down to get a good look at the turtles. He looked from top to bottom and concluded that their features were seemingly more human than beast. Their faces held proper eyes, and they looked very good for an average person. Their slightly muscular arms were like any arms a child athlete would possess. He was amused, and impressed that he would make many nods on his head, "You are fascinating for some turtle creatures. I have an assumption that you can read and write."

"Pretty good English for a Chinese brat like you!" Raphael spat back, shocking Leonardo to land a jab on him. One more insult, and they're turtle soup for sure.

"How did you find us and why did you take us here?" Leonardo asked.

"What kind of question is that?" the man inched forward sending a threat to the turtles, "My henchmen just found you. If you are wondering what we are doing underground, it is our base. You trespassed on our base, lah."

Leonardo would not give a damn if it were their base or not, "You could have left us alone!" he retorted.

"We could leave each other alone, if it weren't you going around the sewers in the dark. Where do you come from?"

"Doesn't matter," Raphael retorted crossing his arms. Leo winced at the brash tone.

"Do you have family? How old are you?"

_What kind of question is that?_

"To answer your question, we do and we just turned thirteen four days ago. That's all you need to know. You know nothing of us." Leonardo answered.

"But we found you and we like to know you more," the doctor put up a grin, "How did you end up like this? Do you live in the sewers? What do you eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?"

Leonardo and Raphael could not answer anymore. He was simply plain weird.

"I really like how educated you are, just like me. I'm a doctor - a vet. For now, we are deciding what to do with you. We won't kill you of course," The man retrieved a brown vertical object, and all of a sudden a double-edged blade spurt out of the tip, "Unless you will be naughty, I will have good reason to cut your tongues."

Raphael gulped and his eyes widened at the silver blade, smooth, shiny, and large enough to slice up some skin and the top flesh. Leonardo could not help freeze and gulp discreetly too. He imagined how such a sharp weapon could easily peel their skins and maybe their shells off.

"You scared?" the doctor asked.

How would anyone not be scared of that?

 _This is crazy_ , Leonardo thought.

The doctor laughed and stood putting the knife away and calling his men to exit. Between the cacophony roaring all over, the man turned his head and pointed at the turtles, "Don't you move!" he finished off with a laugh and shut the door.

Leonardo slumped his shell on the metal bars and retrieved the tanto from his foot, "Good thing we still have this with us," he said as he looked at the steel blade, "Come on Raph, let's pick our locks out,"

Raphael looked over the room and found they were the only two inside, "Man, he's so crazy he can't even let a guard in here!" he said.

"Let's take that chance, Raph. Don't complain. Let's just go along with it, to be honest, I'm really freaking out so don't bother me while I pick the locks out."

Raphael grew more irked knowing by the fact that Leonardo just told him not to complain. "I'm not complaining! I really gotta say, you're too freaked out."

Leonardo shook his head while pouting his lips, "I-I think you're getting the wrong way. You _are_ freaking out, too," he stammered.

Raphael curled his face in anger. For an older brother, Leonardo could not even think of a better thing to do, "I _am_ freaking out! Ever since you never came to save me while those bozos got me!"

Leonardo gawked but soon pushed a hand on his plastron roughly, "You never said anything when you need help!"

"What's it to 'ya? You could've looked back!"

"Oh okay, I'm sorry we never looked back even when we had to face front to run!"

"But you were too deaf to hear me grunt and gnash my teeth! I was in pain, and you didn't even come back even if I couldn't hear the men run! Even if you couldn't hear the men run! You left me! That's just it and you now paid for it!"

Leonardo slammed his fists on the metal floor and screamed in frustration. He stopped for a while to catch his breath and lower his heart rate. Raphael grinned looking at such a failure Leonardo had done, and he knew it would haunt him for the rest of his days,

"I have paid for what I did, Raphael," Leonardo trailed his eyes to the disappointed red masked turtle, "We are captured. That's what it basically is. I went alone to take you home. Master Splinter would probably know what we had been up too, and now he's gonna find us. I will get us out of here."

Raphael kept silent and looked away by turning his back to face Leonardo. His grim face and heavy heart could not make him have the heart to talk to his older brother.

"Are you hungry?" Leo proceeded to ask and in an instant, Raphael began to feel his stomach churning,

"No," he replied in a stressed accent.

"I have a granola bar with me in my pocket," Leonardo replied, feeling the treat on his pocket as he squatted to work on the lock.

He carefully worked on the keyhole for nearly five minutes by wedging the bade's tip inside hoping he could hit all the pins, but they were no use as indeed the tip was too large to fit into the little keyhole. There came a point he had enough making him curse and finally slumping back down to the metal bars. Raphael at the curse, turned his head a tiny bit. He still had not uttered a word nor done some significant action. He just sat there and let failure and impending doom soak him.

Leonardo gave a sigh and wished he could've brought another tiny blade.

_Creak!_

At that moment the sound started, Leonardo quickly withdrew the tanto to the back and sat on it. Raphael turned his eyes and headed to the door opened by two of those lackeys, one of them holding a crowbar. Deep in conversation and laughter, the two retrieved a wooden crate on the topmost shelf.

"The boss would want ten of these horns," one of them a lean and tall one said (of course in Cantonese).

"How much did he say it was?" asked his partner, opening a large crate set on the ground with the crowbar at hand.

"$540,000."

The side opened and ivory horns spilled out like a landslide, startling the two turtles with a gasp. The surprise heightened when loud sounds shot out from outside. They were chirps, squawks of various pitches, the sounds of birds.

"That's not enough." said the taller lackey holding five horns,

"Yeah! Yeah!" said his partner, taking another crate and opening it up to reveal more horns.

"Leo!" Raphael whispered to the turtle beside him looking back at the sharp call, "Poachers,"

"Not triads after all," Leonardo whispered back.

The bird sounds would intensify as three more of them would enter. Their hands occupied with tiny cages of colorful birds barely able to fit. It was a terrible experience to hear these colorful birds screeching and crying nonstop, hoping they could get their wings to move or be fed with something. It lasted while the men were still inside for about five minutes shoving some of them into the shelves or placing them at any space in front of the crates.

At last, the hair slicked doctor went in again. His mere presence spells doom. The turtles kept their ground by putting tension on their lined lips and taking slow breaths to calm themselves.

"Raph, let's keep ourselves together, he's coming," Leonardo whispered as the doctor walked to the two cages.

"How's your stay, yeah?"

No response.

"Just as I thought," the doctor mused before inching his face closer with a big creepy smile, "Don't you move, or we make your shells fortune and your flesh a sweet delicacy.'' He gave a high pitched snicker and a kick on the two cages where the turtles were bound. For one last time, he retrieved his knife again and flicked the blade open to give his tongue a tap. At once the warning was mentioned again and there was a guarantee that he meant it.

"We are in some business, I say, on animals. You are thinking that this is all a coincidence, and it is. You'll know soon. We trade exotic birds, mammals, and precious items, mostly ivory and skin to very special people and they cost lots of _dollars_!" his thumbs and index fingers form a rectangle at that last word,

"We know what lots of dollars mean," Raphael retorted, earning a hiss from Leonardo.

_Seriously! Can't Raph ever shut up?_

The doctor frowned and walked forward to kick his cage, "One more word and I'll have to experiment on you and your friend here." he growled, "I have some chemicals worth trying!"

A silence loomed between the three and by then, all the men had come out of that room. The doctor followed, looking at the two terrified turtles as he walked out.

As the door shut, Leonardo put a grim face and shot at Raphael, "What the hell are you thinking? Don't you want us to get killed?"

"He's crazy! It'd be nice to mess with people like him," Raphael replied, swinging his hands up.

"Don't be stupid! We're all gonna die if you keep up with that crap."

"What am I supposed to do then? Just keep quiet? You just can't do nothing while we are stuck in cages! We have to fight back! That is the only choice."

"What if it's no use? We need a plan."

Raphael groaned, "That is the plan! We annoy him and he'll take us out and beat him up! Simple, but you can't get it."

"It's _not_ that simple, Raph. We are just two turtles against an army of Chinese poachers and a crazy doctor. How do you expect to face all of them? Do you have a plan of attack? Plus we don't have our weapons except this tanto I brought!"

Raphael could not handle any more suggestions. He had to get himself and his brother out with force, and he only knew it was the only way, yet Leonardo would reject such a resort leaving Raphael in a state of despair, "I sometimes hate the fact that you act like you're the boss just because you're the eldest among us,"

"Oh God, Raph! So you don't want my help? Fine! I'll just be quiet as usual. We're all doomed now."

Raphael scoffed and slumped his back on the metal bars, "I bet Splinter's looking for us. I hate to admit it, but we really need his help. There's no use getting out."

* * *

"Stay close to me, my sons," Splinter whispered as he and his younger sons crept into the dark. Donatello who was in front of him gazed intently on the little screen of his handheld tracker, focusing on a line of yellow circles forming a trail.

"How far are we, D?" Michelangelo asked looking over from Splinter's back.

"Quite far. Man, Leo did go a long way."

"How exactly did they appear?" Splinter asked.

"They had flashlights, sensei, and they're Chinese," Michelangelo replied.

"Are they Triads?"

"Can't tell, but I think they're wearing dark clothing."

"Who knows who they might be. It's pretty clever though they get to hide in the sewers and the fact that there are a lot of 'em, they can occupy a big space here." Donatello mused as he continually stared into the tracker instead of the road ahead.

"They must be on the run from the cops! Or-or from some dangerous villain hunting them."

"Nice guess, Mikey, but I think there could be more than that."

Splinter looked to his two sons walking with him in the darkness heading for a path he knew would be too hard to walk on: A path of rocky stones cutting their feet up to the point of bleeding. Walking in the darkness, outside of their home was already something he feared and he feared his sons would be lost and helpless. He sighed, "I cannot believe they could be so many. They must be dominating the sewers."

"I guess they're making a country if that's what it is?" Michelangelo said.

"What matters now is that we rescue your brothers and go home." Splinter sighed followed by a pause, "I am disappointed in all of you."

The turtle brothers could not help but frown and look away.

"We know, sensei," Donatello replied somberly.

"That is not how a ninja is supposed to act. In fact, that is not how thirteen-year-olds like you should do. If you think you are mature enough, then act like one! You never have to think you know so much. A ninja is never brash nor reckless, otherwise, he and his comrades are done for."

"That's why we are trying to amend what we did,"

"I just hope you do, but worry not. I will help you,"

Silence then came in. In it, they trod carefully and looked around with the help of the flashlights.

_Plink! Plunk!_

Splinter held his sons' shoulders as his ears picked up the sound.

_Plink! Plunk! Plink! Plunk!_

"Do you hear that?" Splinter asked quietly. The turtles nod.

"Some leak, I guess!" Michelangelo suggested.

"Or worse," Donatello replied.

"Arm yourselves. I am going to investigate," he said, putting a hand on his katana at his waist. He, along with the turtles, turned left, where the sound came from. Inching closer to the passage, the three heightened their focus and heard the sound well. It wasn't a leak but, as Donatello suggested, a certain someone walking on some puddle. Splinter's lips curled down and as he reached the passage, he let his right arm out to stop his sons from going in. In a calm fashion, Splinter stepped in, ensuing a brief struggle consisting only of a snap, a grunt, and shuffling water. Splinter returned telling his sons that it was safe to come in.

When they entered, they found that Splinter single-handedly brought down a man in black and armed with a gun slung on his shoulders. His face had been flat on the floor and his eyes were closed. There was no blood nor wound concluding that Splinter must have chopped his neck. The two turtles inched nearer to get a closer look and after inspecting every article he bore, they nodded at each other as verification,

"That's one of those guys, sensei," said Michelangelo, earning a nod from his master.

"What's pretty surprising was that he didn't have any tattoos on his arms or neck. I guess he's not much of a gang or a newbie." Donatello added.

Splinter suddenly perked from head to toe, his ears turned to the right, and they could sense some shuffling on the floor, "Quickly, my sons! There are more of them around."

"More?" Michelangelo perked back.

"I'm afraid so, Mikey. I fear they are patrolling around the sewer." said Donatello.

"Perhaps around this area. We will have to hide from them, and find an area where there are not many of them." Splinter suggested.

Donatello marched towards Mikey, "Okay, Mikey. Whatever you do, shut your flashlight off if you see any of those guys. I'll lead us out of this."

They began their objective by turning to the left. As they passed through the entrance, they dashed quietly in the dark sewers as they tried to find some safe spot to pass. But wherever they went, they would always see those men and their flashlights prompting them to turn to the nearest passage. It was exasperating as they could not find any area with few or none of these dangerous men. It was a big maze in a sewer and pests walking about.

The team kept their light off most of the time and they dashed around for actually ten minutes but felt like hours for them.

"They're just everywhere! What exactly are they doing here?" Donatello whispered.

Splinter aimed for the next passageway to the right, "How far are we, Donatello?"

Donatello retrieved the tracker in his hand and to his shock, his eyes widened, "Too far, sensei." he gasped as he zoomed the screen out to find that they were positioned far from Leo's coordinates, he then sighed, "I'll look for a shortcut. Don't worry, everyone!"

Soon a cocking sound suddenly rang in the air. They looked back to find the light shining on them and an armed man aiming his gun at them. Both forces scrutinized the other in a frightening pause. Adrenaline rushed in the system of the mutant rat, rushing him to leap and make a hard chop on the man's neck, disabling his senses making him drop on the floor, and it was before he could fire a bullet. Michelangelo remarked with a wow, his eyes going wide in amazement yet again.

"There is no safe place here." Splinter confirmed.

A scream came again and for some reason, the mutants were surrounded by five other gunmen aiming their nozzles at them.

 _No biggie,_ Donatello thought with a little smirk before quickly smashing a smoke bomb on the floor to give them time to throw off their guns and beat them unconscious. As expected, the cloud cleared out shortly and a fight commenced.

The turtles' blunt weapons crashed on the bigger men, while Splinter's sword made its tricks to scare the men and eventually pummel them down cold. It was an easy fight. These men lacked the skills to contain the three of them.

Neither of the men was awake save for one man pinned down with Splinter's foot weighing down on the chest and the tip of his katana aiming at the center of his throat. The man breathed violently as he stayed put in terror,

"Why are you set afoot in this sewer? Answer me!" Splinter demanded,

"Y-you sp-sp-speak!" the man stuttered back.

"Where is your base?" Splinter asked again, yet no answer came. With a sigh, Splinter tipped the katana at the skin lightly. Upon contact, the man shivered violently from head to toe and moaned repeatedly in harsh exhales.

"I will give you one more chance," he continued,

"You better talk, or you get it!" Donatello growled as he stepped in to spring a naginata blade from the bo. The man looked at the purple masked turtle and his damp eyes widened all the more upon seeing the blade.

"Y-you, look like the turtle we caught!" The man finally spoke.

Donatello gasped and he immediately believed that the man and his group had something to do with his missing brothers.

"Yes, my friend. They are missing and we are looking for them, yes!" Splinter smirked.

"We have them! Yes! They are here! Here!" He then shut his eyes and took uneasy breaths.

Still, the three were not satisfied with his imperfect English, but they were getting there.

"Two turtles?" Splinter asked.

"Yeah! Yeah!"

"Where are they held?"

"In the base! Yes!"

"Where do we go?"

"Go straight, turn right… Please, do not kill me!"

The turtles gulped fearing they would have to see a man die right before their eyes. Splinter looked to his sons and frowned fearing that they would be learning too much. They have learned a lot from that discourse enough. Splinter crouched down adding weight to the burdened man but keeping his katana put,

"You will never set foot here in this sewer again!" He whispered before chopping his neck to disable him. As Splinter stood, the man was no longer moving. He was paralyzed yet for a brief time. His eyes were blindly opened and his fingers and mouth twitched over and over.

The man's suffering lasted not really long enough though, but even after finally breaking off from his short paralysis, he had to still stay down a bit longer to get his strength back. His whole body and most especially his head were heavy and too weak from that neck chop. He was able to regain it as soon as he could sit up himself. He looked around to only see that he was the first to be awakened. He slowly brought himself to his feet and stumbled as he went at it.

He looked around for a better view, but it seemed only little could register to his mind. He gave a heavy sigh. What he knew was that he was alone in the dark, beaten, but at the same time relieved that none of these mutants were there anymore.


End file.
